Munīr al-Rayyis (1901–1992) was a prominent Syrian newspaper editor and writer. Munir was born in Damascus which was at the time part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. He studied literature at Damascus University and in 1919 began to work for the Ministry of Education. In the same year, be began writing for the newspapers ''al-Ayyam'' (Damascus) and ''al-Hayat'' (Beirut). Munir opposed the

Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...

imposed in 1920 and in 1925 left his job to join the revolt of

Sultan al-Atrash Sultan al-Atrash, (March 5, 1891 – March 26, 1982) ( ar, سلطان الأطرش), commonly known as Sultan Pasha al-Atrash ( ar, سلطان باشا الأطرش, links=no) was a prominent Arab Druze leader, Syrian nationalist and Commander Ge ...

. At the end of the revolt, in 1927, Rayyes returned to Damascus, where he was a regular writer for ''al-Hayyat''. In August 1933 Rayyes became a founder member of the

League of Nationalist Action The League of Nationalist Action ( ar, عصبة العمل القومي ''‘Usbat Al-'Amal Al-Qawmi''; french: Ligue d'action nationaliste), was a Syrian Arab nationalist anti-colonial political party, created in 1932–1933 by a lawyer of Homs ...

, whose goal was to remove foreign political influence in the region. With the fading of the League in 1935, Rayyes moved to Palestine from 1936-38 to join Hajj Amin al-Husseini in the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. In 1938 he became the director of political affairs at the Damascus police department. In 1945, he founded the newspaper, ''Barada'', working as its editor-in-chief, and another in support of Husni al-Za'im's 1949 coup, called ''al-Inkilab'' (''The Coup d'Etat''). His journalism included campaigning for women's emancipation (including giving his wife,

Thuraya Al-Hafez Thuraya al-Hafez (1911-2000), (Arabic ثريا الحافظ) was a Syrian politician who campaigned against the niqab and for women's rights. After schooling in Damascus, Thuraya became in 1928 one of Syria's first female primary school teachers. ...

, a platform; he also encouraged her to stand for election in 1953). On August 25, 1952, Barada merged with the Damascus daily paper ''al-Manar al-Jadid'' on the orders of Adib Shishakli, becoming ''al-Liwaa''. The owner of ''al-Manar al-Jadid'',

Bashir al-Ouff Bashir or Basheer or the francicized Bachir or Bechir ( ar, بشير) is a male given name. Derived from Arabic, it means "the one who brings good news". It is also a surname. Bashir may refer to: Mononym *Bashir I, Lebanese emir of the Shihab ...

, became editor-in-chief of the new paper, and Rayyes the director, until in 1954 the papers were split again. 1954 also saw a short-lived experiment with running a shareholding company to print Syria's four main papers, '' al-Qabas'', '' al-Ayyam'', ''

Alif Ba' Alif may refer to: Languages * Alif (ا) in the Arabic alphabet, equivalent to aleph, the first letter of many Semitic alphabets ** Dagger alif, superscript alif in Arabic alphabet * Alif, the first letter of the Urdu alphabet * Alif, the eighth ...

'', and ''

al-Sham Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other s ...

''. Rayyes supported Arab nationalist movements in the 1950s and

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

of Egypt both during and after the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

. Rayyes supported the

1963 Syrian coup d'état The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution ( ar, ثورة الثامن من آذار), was the successful seizure of power in Syrian Republic (1946-63), Syria by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ...

but once their power was established, the Baath party closed ''Barada''. Rayyes is also noted for his book ''Al-Kitāb al-Dhahabī li'l-Thawrāt al-Waṭaniyya fī al-Mashriq al-ʿArabī: al-Thawra al-Sūriyya al-Kubrā'' (''The Golden Book of Nationalist Revolutions in the Arab East'').(Beirut: Dār al-Ṭalīʿa li'l-Ṭabāʿa wa'l-Nashr, 1966)

Sources

Sami M. Moubayed, ''Steel and Silk: Men and Women who Shaped Syria 1900-2000'' (Seattle: Cune Press, 2006), p. 496-98.

References

{{authority control 1901 births 1992 deaths Syrian writers People of the Great Syrian Revolt People from Damascus